Center for Science in the Public Interest

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The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) is a consumer organization which undertakes research and advocacy programs, as well as provides consumers with information about health and well-being.

In 2010, they won a class-action suit against Coca-Cola, to have their misleading statements regarding Vitamin Water removed.[1]

Their three main goals are:

  • To provide useful, objective information to the public and policymakers and to conduct research on food, alcohol, health, the environment, and other issues related to science and technology;
  • To represent the citizen's interests before regulatory, judicial and legislative bodies on food, alcohol, health, the environment, and other issues; and
  • To ensure that science and technology are used for the public good and to encourage scientists to engage in public-interest activities.

[edit] Food restriction advocacy

CSPI sees certain food ingredients as harmful, at least in the quantities that they're consumed in the developed world. They advocate government limits on those food ingredients. The three food items they seek limits on most fervently are:

CSPI's stance on trans fat represents a reversal of their position from the early 1990s. Before evidence of trans fat's unhealthfulness became available, CSPI advocated replacing the lard and tallow used for frying in fast food restaurants with partially hydrogenated oils, on the grounds of lowering the American intake of saturated fats.[6]

CSPI has also petitioned the U.S. FDA to ban synthetic food dyes.[7] They have no problem, though, with natural food colorings like annatto and paprika. The American Council on Science and Health (ACSH) disagrees with this position, saying that artificial food dyes are banned in some European countries because of "a poorly conceived study that examined mixtures of additives, and then asked parents to evaluate their children’s behavior."[8][9] (Actually, the European Union didn't ban artificial food dyes, it merely imposed a requirement that foods containing them carry the warning: "may have an adverse effect on activity and attention in children.")

Other food items CSPI has opposed include:

[edit] External links

  • CSPI Homepage
  • CSPI scam, a site critical of CSPI, run by people with just as big of an axe to grind as CSPI themselves

[edit] Footnotes

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